


Yuri Plisetsky Week March 2017

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: Soulmate Dreams [17]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Additional Tags for Individual Chapters, Birthday, M/M, Other, Yuri Plisetsky Week, crossposted to tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-06 11:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10334120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: A collection of short works for Yuri Plisetsky Week.Prompts1. Birthday2. Family/Friends3. AU/Crossover4. Animals/Pets5. Social Networks6. Growing Up/Coming of Age7. Free Day - this is the only chapter connected to the series this work is part of.  The others are unrelated standalones.Note: Otayuri in this may range from friendship (or pre-friendship) to romantic.  It will be tagged appropriately in the beginning chapter notes.





	1. Yuri's Sixteenth Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Yuri Plisetsky Week](https://yuriplisetskyweek.tumblr.com/prompts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's birthday falls at a somewhat inconvenient time. Why can't he have an offseason birthday?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Otayuri in this is friendship, although you can read it as pre-romantic relationship if you'd like.

March 1st was not a good time for a birthday. Up till now it hadn’t been so bad… but now, the person he most wanted to celebrate his birthday with was too close to a major competition. At least Beka had done well. Yuri went to bed on February 28th in a somewhat fouler mood than usual.

He woke up to his phone ringing. Of course he did. But it was Beka, so he answered. “What?”

“Happy birthday, Yura.”

“You called me just for that?”

“Yes. I don’t have long to talk, I’m supposed to be on the ice, but this was important.”

“Thanks? I guess?”

“Happy birthday. Here’s hoping Viktor and the rest aren’t too annoying.”

Yuri smiled at that. “Yeah, that’s not happening. But thanks. Get back to practice, JJ was too close to you for comfort.”

“At Worlds I’ve got you and Viktor for backup, not just Yuuri. Talk later.”

Yuri was still in a good mood when he got to the rink. Mila came running at him. “Happy birthday, Yuri!” She nearly tackled him with her enthusiastic hug.

“Get off me, hag!” Yuri pushed at Mila, who just laughed at him. “Shouldn’t you be practicing?”

“Yeah, probably. You too, though!”

Yakov didn’t take it easy on them. Worlds was coming up too fast for him to let them slack off too much. When they broke for lunch, Viktor and Yuuri caught him and handed him a brown paper bag. “This isn’t from us, we’re just the delivery boys. Happy birthday, Yurio!”

Inside the bag was a note and a bunch of pirozhki. As soon as he bit into one, he smiled. Grandpa’s. Now he was interested in the note.

_Yurotchka,_

_Happy birthday. I’m sorry I can’t come down, but your friend offered to bring these to you._

“You went to Moscow and back yesterday? That’s why you weren’t at practice?”

Yuuri nodded. “Turns out my coach is a softie and will let me do just about anything if I say it’s for you.”

“Tell me you’re not buying into this stupid thing that your joint fan club’s doing about me being your son.”

Yuuri shook his head. “Viktor thinks it’s hilarious, but I’m only eight years older than you. Little brother, I could see, but not my son.”

Yuri’s phone rang again. “Beka?”

“Happy birthday.”

“You already said that.”

“It’s still your birthday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“So happy birthday. Enjoying your pirozhki?”

“Yeah, I am. What are you up to?”

“Just finished practice for the day. Gonna spend some time working on my bike.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Just some routine maintenance. Oil change, checking the spark plugs and the brakes, that sort of thing. Give it a good cleaning.”

“Sounds cool.”

“I’ll send pictures.”

“Awesome.” Yuuri loved seeing pictures of Otabek’s bike. “Are you working tonight?”

“Of course not. It’s your birthday. I don’t know what your plans for tonight are, so I’m gonna have my phone ready whenever you get a chance to get on Skype. Hey, I gotta go, Serik’s here.”

“Hmm?”

“To help me with my bike. When you see the pictures, he’s the one taking them, if they’re horrible blame him.”

Yuri laughed. “Have fun. Talk to you tonight.”

 

After practice, Yuri checked his phone. No pictures yet. Mila grabbed his arm. “Hey, come on, I’m taking you out for your birthday.”

“Where?”

“Laser tag! Georgi and Viktor are coming too. Yuuri said he needed to go home and take a nap, something about a long day of traveling yesterday?”

“Sounds good. Can we go home first so I can drop off my skates?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Laser tag was fun. Between rounds, Yuri checked his phone. Otabek had sent several pictures. He had his shirt off and managed to get smudged with motor oil and grease. There were a couple selfies as well, of Otabek and his brother. It was obvious that Serik had written the captions. 

Mila looked over his shoulder. “Whoa. Who’s that with Otabek?”

“His brother Serik. Why?”

“Why? Are you kidding? Look at him!”

“Quit snooping on my phone, hag.” Yuri put his phone away. “It’s our turn again.”

 

Viktor took Yurio home with him after laser tag. As soon as the elevator doors opened, Yurio could smell the food. “Piggy skipped out on laser tag to cook katsudon?”

“You’re surprised?” Viktor opened the door. “Yuuri! We’re home!”

Yuuri stuck his head out of the kitchen. “It’ll be about five minutes. Hi Yurio!”

Yurio looked at the table. “Why four places?”

“Oh, we have another guest. He should be out in just a minute.”

Yuri scowled. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of some random person joining them. When the guest room door opened, though, he got over it. “You fucking asshole!”

If being called an asshole by Yuri bothered him, Otabek didn't show it. “Happy birthday. Good to see you too, Yura.”

“What are you doing here?”

“It’s your birthday, and Viktor bribed my coach so I could come up. Flew out after talking to you at lunch, used the bike as an excuse for where I was, I fly back tomorrow morning.”

“That’s… you are so ridiculous. Viktor, you’re evil!”

“Yes I am.”

Once the katsudon was gone, Otabek disappeared to the guest room for a bit, returning with a box. “I didn’t wrap it. Sorry.”

“Whatever.” Yuri took the box and opened it to find a black leather jacket. When he pulled it out, he saw the tiger face on the back. “Awesome! Thanks, Beka!”

“One last time, happy birthday.”

“Best birthday ever.”


	2. The F Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at how Yuri's views of family and friends evolved through his childhood.
> 
> Tags: Yuri's Crappy Childhood  
> Otayuri in this is friendship, not romantic.

Viktor liked to talk about his L words – life and love.

For Yuri, he spent more time thinking about F words. (No, not that one. Although that one too.)

Family was always something of a touchy subject for Yuri. As a young boy, he’d seen his friends, with their families of a mom and a dad, or two moms, or two dads, sometimes with other kids, and he’d wonder why he didn’t have something like that. Not that he wanted brothers or sisters, he liked having his mom and grandpa all to himself, but he wished he had a dad. Or another mom. Whatever. He saw how happy other moms were with their partners, and he wanted that for his mom, too.

Then his mom met a guy. Yuri didn’t like Borislav much. Boris didn’t like him much either. Yuri was eight years old, and after Boris had been around for a few months, he found himself in St. Petersburg living in an athletic training camp while his mom and Boris left Russia. Grandpa came to visit when he could, and occasionally Yuri got to visit Moscow, but as far as Yuri was concerned, all family did was leave.

Friends were even worse. Yuri had always been on the small side. He got teased on the playground. At the camp, potential friends were more likely to stab you in the back than to help you. It was competitive. Everyone wanted to be the next Viktor Nikiforov, and most of them didn’t care who they hurt along the way.

When Yuri was twelve, Yakov Feltsman took him from the camp to his own rink, training alongside Viktor and a few others. The skaters Yakov personally trained to be the best in the world. The only one even close to his age was a girl. An obnoxious girl, at that. Mila was too bubbly, too enthusiastic, and too loud.

Yuri did find a friend, however. Not long after Yuri moved in, he and Yakov found an abandoned kitten near the house. Yuri picked it up and held it, and with much eyerolling and demanding that Yuri would be responsible for the fool thing, Yakov agreed to let him keep it. After a trip to the vet where it was determined that it was a girl, Yuri named his new friend Tsarevna. To Yakov’s surprise, Yuri was just as devoted to caring for Tsarevna as he was to skating.

Cats were friends. People weren’t worth the bother, and family only let you down. Grandpa was an exception. No one at the rink seemed to have any family they ever bothered with, even Yakov.

When he was fifteen, Yuri was forced to reconsider his stance when a boy on a motorcycle held out his hand and asked “Are you going to be friends with me or not?” He took Otabek’s hand, and his life changed. Even as a competitor, Otabek wasn’t like the kids back in camp. He wanted to see Yuri succeed, and when JJ edged Otabek out for bronze a few days later, Yuri was surprised to discover he was actually more pissed off that Otabek was the one who got screwed than the fact that JJ benefited from it. (Not that he wasn’t pissed about JJ getting bronze. He still hated the guy.)

Becoming friends with Otabek also caused Yuri to reconsider his stance on family. It was clear how much Otabek’s parents and siblings loved and supported him, and how quickly they opened their hearts to include him when they realized how important he was to Otabek. Hearing Otabek talk about his little sister reminded him a lot of how he and Mila were. Otabek and his big brother kind of reminded him of Viktor. Not only was family worth having, Yuri realized he did have family other than his grandpa.

When he was sixteen, Yuri found the F words he’d been missing. (Not that he got rid of the one that had been a constant companion.)


	3. Cats Are the Best Ice-Breakers

This fic has moved! Go [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12504668/chapters/28469680) to read the fic, now the first chapter in a longer 'verse!


	4. Cats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of a set of headcanons than fic.

Yuri loves cats. This is usually somewhere around the third thing people discover about Yuri, after “figure skater” and “bad-tempered”. His Instagram is full of cat pictures, his wardrobe is full of cat-themed clothing of both the domestic and large variety, his fans bombard him with cat-themed presents after his performances.

For years, Yuri had to put everything he earned towards supporting his family and paying to keep skating. After winning the Grand Prix Finals, though, he started earning enough money that he could do fun things. When Viktor suggested he donate some of it to charities or causes, for PR purposes, Yuri knew exactly what he wanted to do. World Wildlife Fund (they even sent him a tiger plushie) and similar conservation groups, animal shelters, big cat sanctuaries, even lobby groups advocating for endangered animals.

Potential sponsors quickly realized that the easiest way to get Yuri to agree to film a commercial or do a photoshoot was to include cats somehow. Yuri’s favorite was for an athleticwear company that brought in a trained tigress as his costar.

His cat, Fluffy (shut up he was five when he named her, okay?), was among the most spoiled of animals. She had gourmet food, five million toys to ignore to play with the broken lace Yuri pulled out of his left skate, places to climb and hide and jump around, and when Yuri got his own apartment after turning 18, he made sure it had a second bedroom that could be “Fluffy’s room”.

When Fluffy broke Yuri’s heart by dying, it wasn’t even a week before Otabek and Viktuuri both had the idea of taking him to get a new cat. Yuri ended up with three. He’d only meant to get two, but after going with Viktor and Yuuri to get Tora, he and Otabek went to pick out another one. At the shelter, they found a pair of cats who were the only survivors of their litter, abandoned by their mother and left to starve. If Otabek was laughing at him for being a softie when he promptly decided to adopt both Panther and Lioness, he hid it well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Panther and Lioness are based on my cats Smoky and Spot. They were found at two weeks old, a litter of six with two dead, two that didn't survive fostering, and Smoky and Spot. We adopted them when they were ten weeks old. They'll be 13 years in May.


	5. Social Media is Educational!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things Yuri Learned About Himself From Social Media.  
> Tags: gossip, rumors, character death (sort of - no one ACTUALLY dies), mentions of Pliroy, mentions of Plinami  
> Otayuri in this is romantic. Set in 2020 - Yuri is 19.

Social media was the best thing ever. Yuri learned a lot about himself from social media.

1\. Yuri never knew he was Viktor Nikiforov’s son until he saw #sonofviktuuri trending.

2\. Yuri discovered that he was a soulless monster for yelling at Yuuri. (This one sounded kind of cool, but he knew Phichit better than to think it was meant as a compliment.)

3\. Yuri discovered that he and JJ LeRoy had broken up because JJ wanted to marry a girl. Since Yuri didn’t even know they were ever dating, this was something of a surprise. He was pleased to see he’d come to his senses, though. Why would anyone date that asshole?

4\. Yuri was even more surprised to learn of his death by street fight. You’d think he’d have noticed getting shot.

5\. Who the hell even was Minami and why were people shipping them? Google informed him that Minami was a Japanese skater with ridiculous hair. Yuuri helped fill in the why on the shipping – Minami was likely the heir to Yuuri’s title of Japan’s Ace, so they were Viktuuri 2.0.

6\. He felt cheated by the fact that he only ever saw one of the fifteen cats he owned.

7\. He definitely felt cheated that he never saw the leopard he owned. Or the tiger.

8\. Apparently, he hated Katsudon. Never forgave him for stealing Viktor (as a coach, not as a boyfriend, Yuri was thankful to see). Okay, yes, he did call him Piggy and Katsudon and kept making sure Viktor and Katsudon knew they were being gross, and he had told him to retire that time, but he didn’t hate the guy. Or at least, he hadn’t thought he did. But it was on the Internet, therefore it must be true!

9\. Okay, yes, he had been in a motorcycle accident. He remembered that. He and Otabek had gone for a ride, and a car came around a corner too fast. Otabek had swerved to avoid a collision but lost control, and they went skidding across the road. That’s how Yuri remembered it, but he was evidently remembering it wrong because it would seem he died. Him and Otabek both. He’d called Otabek to see if he was dead, and Otabek had gotten a hearty laugh out of that one.

10\. Speaking of Otabek, he learned that instead of being rescued from his crazy fans, he’d been kidnapped. Otabek had then worked some kind of spell on him, forcing Yuri to be his friend, and later boyfriend. Otabek hadn’t found that one as funny, although he assured Yuri that there had been no spell.

But Yuri’s favorite thing that he’d learned about himself from social media was that Otabek Altin was head over heels in love with him and that Yuri was an asshole who kept stringing the poor guy along with no intention of ever doing anything about it.

The first time he saw that, he laughed and ignored it. People said crazy things about him.

The second time he saw that, he brushed it off, but it niggled at the back of his brain.

The third time he saw that, he texted links and then called Otabek on FaceTime.

Otabek answered with “You’re not an asshole.”

“Hey!” Yuri scowled in mock-offense.

“You’re not an asshole to me, anyway. Don’t worry about it.”

“Beka? Are you in love with me?”

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“Hell yes, that’s a problem. Because you’re in Almaty and I’m in St. Petersburg and it’s really hard to reach you from here to kiss you.”

Otabek’s face had gone from worried to quietly devastated to thrilled – meaning someone who wasn’t Yuri would be able to tell he was happy. “Asshole. Montreal is too damn far away.”

“But too close for one of us to go running off, especially since you were just here for my birthday. Ten days. Why the fuck did you not say anything while you were here? You’re the asshole!”

“If you remember, you’re the one who started this conversation. I didn’t think you felt that way about me, so why make our friendship awkward?”

“I love you too, Beka.”


	6. Two Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri's 18 years old and on top of the Worlds. The only thing that could make the night better is solving the mystery of his secret admirer.
> 
> Tags: secret admirer, OC  
> Otayuri is romantic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was inspired by a [Tumblr prompt](http://otpisms.tumblr.com/post/157577303485/otp-idea-762):
> 
> “So I’ve been doing the whole secret admirer thing for a long time now, and today is the day I’m gonna tell you.  
> Bonus: “Right when I was about to tell you someone interrupted our conversation and asked you out. I think I’m gonna cry.”

Yuri’s 18th birthday was spent training. Nothing special happened.

At the end of the month, he was competing for Worlds. Of course he won gold. Viktor was retired, as was Chris, Katsudon and Leo were injured, leaving only a few real competitors. Silver medalist Ji Guang Hong medaled for the first time at World’s, and Beka took bronze. Four years running.

Once the medals were awarded and the last strains of the Russian national anthem faded away, Beka stepped up to the gold step and stretched up to whisper to Yuri. “My bike’s right outside. Get away from the reporters quickly enough and I’ll take you with me when I go find some trouble.”

“Be there as soon as I can.” Yuri was not in the least worried that Beka would leave without him. Still, he practically ran to the changing room. At every competition since he turned 16, there had been a stuffed cat with a note. At first, he’d assumed it was one or more of Yuri’s Angels, so he didn’t think too much about it. Over time, though, he’d become genuinely charmed by his secret admirer, and wanted to know who it was. He’d said as much on his Instagram, but no one had come forward.

Today’s cat was a beautiful snow leopard wearing a sky-blue T-shirt with a golden sun. The note was sweet, printed on bright yellow paper. “The only thing prettier than a gold medal is the look in your eyes when you get a new one. I am so happy I got to see it again tonight. I love you, Yuri.”

He snapped a picture and posted it to Instagram, with the note as a caption and the hashtags #secretadmirer #whoareyou #smoothasfuck. He then changed as quickly as he could. He resolutely shoved his phone in the pocket of his jacket without looking at it again.

Media placated, Yuri headed for the doors. He had just made it out when he heard a slightly familiar voice. “Yuri! Hold up!”

He waved to Otabek and rolled his eyes before turning around and plastering on a scowl. Even Lilia had given up on trying to make him smile for the reporters. “What?”

“You did really good, Yuri. That was amazing. I hope next time I’ll be up on the podium with you!”

Yuri blinked a couple times before recognizing the guy. Richard Dubois, a French skater who had just made his senior debut this season. He’d finished well out of the medals this year. “You’ll have to work hard. Katsuki and Leo should be back next time.”

“But Michele Crispino is retiring, and I’ve got a lot of room to improve.” Richard gave him a huge smile and reached out to pet the stuffed cat. “You’re really cute, you know.”

“Are you talking to me or the leopard?”

Richard laughed and stopped playing with the cat. “You. Wanna go out sometime?”

“Um…” Yuri glanced over his shoulder at the sound of a motorcycle revving. Was Beka actually getting impatient? He thought he'd done good at keeping the interviews as short as possible. “I gotta go. We’ll talk again sometime.” He turned and ran for the bike, swinging up on the back. Beka took off before Yuri had finished strapping on his helmet, causing Yuri to wrap one arm around his friend and slam his other hand over the helmet.

He pulled over after only a couple minutes. “Sorry, Yura. Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine once my heart rate settles. What the fuck, Beka?”

“Not my finest moment, I admit. Bear with me for a bit and I’ll explain everything when we get where we’re going?”

Yuri took the opportunity to fix his helmet. “Where are we going?”

“Club. One of my buddies is DJing and I don’t have to sneak you in anymore. We didn’t do anything for your birthday, so I’m making up for that now.”

Yuri smiled. “You better not be planning on making me do birthday shots, because I’m not doing it.”

“Hell no. I want you sober tonight.”

“Okay…” Yuri tried to process that. It didn’t make much sense. “Let’s go. I’m looking forward to the explanation.”

Otabek got the bike back on the road and pulled up outside a small club. He walked right by the line waiting to get in and handed the bouncer a piece of paper. The bouncer nodded and waved the two of them inside. “Nice.”

“What’s the point of being a celebrity if you never abuse it to skip lines?” Otabek reached out and put a hand on Yuri’s back, guiding him through the crowd to a table near the DJ booth. He waved to the DJ, who stared at Yuri appraisingly before shooting Otabek a wink.

“Is that Sanjar?” Sanjar was the only one of Otabek’s Kazakh friends he hadn’t met, but he looked familiar from Instagram.

“Yes. He thinks I’m insane, going to all this trouble, but it’s worth it.”

“So what was with the insane takeoff? If you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to arrange a late birthday celebration, why risk killing me before we could get here?”

“Because I really don’t like Richard, and he was about to mess everything up anyway.” Otabek reached out and stroked the leopard. “Two years of work getting derailed by some French twit I couldn’t stand to begin with? No thank you.”

“Two years…?”

“Well, at first, it was kind of a joke. I was just waiting to see how long it would take you to figure out I was behind it. I honestly thought you’d figure it out by the second or third time.”

“Behind what?”

“Yura, take a good look at the leopard.”

Yuri did. It looked like a stuffed snow leopard. The only thing that differentiated this one from any other snow leopard was the T-shirt, which… Yuri looked at it and narrowed his eyes. Then he looked up at Otabek, reaching for the Team Kazakhstan jacket under the black leather. Sure enough, the colors and the sun on the shirt matched the flag on the front of Beka’s jacket. “This isn’t funny, Beka. Once or twice, that would have been, but two fucking years you’ve been jerking me around?”

“No. I meant every word on those notes, Yura. I just… I hadn’t meant to let this go two years at first. I really thought you’d figure it out before we got anywhere near this far. Viktor did, after the Cup of China when you were sixteen.”

“Did he actually figure it out or was he guessing?”

“I don’t know. The shovel talk was real either way. It was useful, too, because once the shovel talk was finished he offered to help when I couldn’t make it to watch because of my own training. Downside, he also told Yakov, who told my coach, who is the reason I didn’t confess after the Finals that year like I’d planned. My coach told me that if I told you before you were eighteen, he’d drop me.”

“And you chose your career over me?”

Otabek flinched. “It’s not like that. I chose to remain friends with you unless you figured it out on your own. If I’d told you and you broke off our friendship, and I lost my career on top of it… losing the two things that mean the most to me at once would not have ended well.”

“And you were going to tell me…?”

“Yura I got you a Kazakh snow leopard in a Kazakhstan T-shirt. That’s not exactly subtle. I was going to tell you here and now. Yes, I know, I’m a month past your birthday, but I couldn’t do it early, we’d agreed not to see each other between Four Continents and Worlds, I’m not stupid enough to do this before the competition was over because it could affect our skating, so I am literally taking the first chance I had to do this in person. And I think this is the kind of thing that needs to be done in person.”

Yuri picked up the cat. “You… you really meant it? Everything in the notes?”

“I meant it. I love you. Right now, there is nothing I want more than to kiss you. I’m not asking for a straight up yes or no tonight, it seems like you’re surprised, but…”

“Idiot.” Yuri scooted his chair a little closer to Otabek, where he could reach up to kiss his friend. “I’m glad I don’t have to choose between the first person I loved and the first person to tell me they loved me.”


	7. Angels are the Agents of Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soulmate AU: the night before your 18th birthday, you dream of your soulmate. Otabek's not sure he cares right now, as he's in the middle of the Grand Prix and can't afford to lose focus and mess up in his second competition. Silver's not good enough to get too comfortable, especially with Michele Crispino to compete against. Last year in his senior debut, he'd barely missed qualifying. This year, he has to do better, so he can meet the guy he's looked up to for five years.
> 
> This chapter is the one connected to the series. It is not necessary to have read other parts of the series to follow this.
> 
> Tags: Soulmate AU, dreams, odd musical choices  
> Otayuri is pre-romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm a little confused on how old Otabek is supposed to be... in episode 10, Viktor says he's eighteen, and in episode 12, Celestino says he's nineteen. For the purposes of this fic, I'm going with Viktor, because plot reasons.

Otabek had always looked forward to his birthday, because his family would make a big deal out of it. No matter where he was in the world, there would be a Skype call with as many people as could make it to see him. Both sets of grandparents, his parents, his brother and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, and sometimes even more distant relatives would drop by. It was crazy and it lasted for hours.

This birthday was different. He was in Almaty, for one thing, and for another he would be eighteen. Tonight was the night he learned who his soulmate was. His family spent the whole day on the 30th doing everything they could to exhaust him – not hard, his coach understood Kazakh tradition and worked him extremely hard in practice. It was only 8:00 and he was already considering going to bed. Tomorrow, they’d let him sleep as late as possible, and then the whole clan would arrive to celebrate both his birthday and his soul bond.

His favorite sister, Dariya, hugged him tight. “Mom says one more hour, if you can do it. Okay?”

Otabek nodded and pulled out his laptop. He had a major research project to work on, and he’d been procrastinating long enough. By the time his sister came back in to tell him to go to bed, he’d made a good start on his notes and his brain felt like sludge. He was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

The ice rink was not a surprise. Otabek looked around, trying to place the somewhat familiar-looking rink. When he heard the distinctive clomp of blade guards, he turned toward the locker room, and gasped.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised. Maybe, somewhere deep down, he’d known since he was thirteen and had first encountered those eyes. Yuri Plisetsky had the eyes of a soldier.

And, apparently, the mouth of a sailor, now. Yuri saw him staring. “What’s with you, asshole?”

“Um.” Otabek had no idea what to say. He’d always been told that your soulmate knew who you were and why this was happening, no matter what. “I’m… dreaming of you? Because you’re my soulmate?”

Yuri tossed his head, getting the hair out of his eyes in time for Otabek to see him roll them. “Obviously. So why are you just staring at me like it’s the biggest shock in the world instead of getting over here and introducing yourself?”

“Sorry! I’m Otabek Altin, not like you’ll remember.” Otabek came forward and held out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Yuri.”

Yuri stared at him. “You know who I am?”

“I just watched you win silver at Skate Canada. ”

Yuri reached out and hesitantly took Otabek’s hand. “Otabek… oh!” His eyes widened. “You’re that guy from Kazakhstan! Bronze at last year's Worlds, silver at Skate America!”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now. The comparisons to the has-been weren’t already bad enough, my soulmate has to be a fellow skater? I guess I’m supposed to make Yakov take you on?”

“Not if you don’t want to. I’m not Yuuri, I have a coach.” Otabek let his hand drop. He had no idea what to do with a soulmate who seemed to dislike him, and worse, what to do with the fact that Yuri Plisetsky seemed to dislike him.

“Good." Yuri headed for the rink. Once he was on the ice, he turned back toward Otabek. "Look. We’ve both got more important crap to deal with for the next couple months. Talk to me at the Finals, not before.”

Otabek blinked. “You don’t want to wait until you…”

“Fuck that. I’m probably going to be a terrible soulmate, you probably deserve better, but fate’s thrown us together. If it weren’t for the Grand Prix, I’d be asking you to come find me now. Probably should make you wait until Worlds is over, but it’s not like you’d be going too far out of your way to talk to me at the Finals.”

Otabek was now very, very confused. “I thought you might want to wait until you couldn’t ignore me anymore. You don’t seem too happy about this.”

Yuri scoffed. “You don’t know me. This is about as nice as I get. I don’t know you either, but you seem pretty cool.”

“Oh.”

“Like I said, I’m gonna suck. I won’t remember this, so if you wanna put off meeting me…”

Otabek shook his head. “I’ve been waiting years to meet you already. You’re kind of a hero of mine, and even before tonight, I thought you and I would be good friends.”

“How am I your hero? You had no reason to follow me in Juniors.”

“I did. We met at a summer camp run by Yakov Feltsman. I guess you don’t remember me. Just as well, really, being the old kid stuck with the novices isn’t exactly the greatest of first impressions.”

Yuri shook his head, but then he stopped and his eyes went wide. “I do remember you! I remember wondering why you didn’t quit. Hoping that I had that kind of determination.”

“More like stubbornness.” Otabek smiled, though. “My parents had paid a lot of money for me to go to that camp and learn all I could. It might not have been as much as we were hoping, and I’m sure they weren’t expecting the main lesson to be that I hate ballet and needed to find some other way to express myself in my skating, but quitting would have been a waste of my parents’ money.”

“I take it your parents are the supportive kind?”

“You have no idea. The second I tell them who you are, one of my sisters will be on the internet figuring out the best way for me to contact you, my brother will probably be researching rinks in St. Petersburg, and everyone will be offering advice on how to survive Russia. And when I say everyone, I mean there are probably twenty-five people who will be at my parents' house tomorrow waiting to hear the report.”

“Lucky. All I’ve ever had is my grandfather. Mom’s out there somewhere but she got so busy with her own career she kind of forgot to ever check in on me. It’s been three years since I saw her.”

“Well, eventually, you’re gonna get more family than you ever wanted.”

“Right now, I’d settle for just having one person I can really talk to. Grandpa’s great, I love him to death, but there’s so much of my life I just can’t talk to him about, you know? And I hardly ever get to see him, because of training.” Yuri hopped up on the wall around the rink. “Look, I get it if you want to wait until I’m older to do anything. Hell, even just waiting until you’re sure you can actually stand to be around me.”

“Sixteen’s not that far for you and we’ll be busy. I’d rather not deal with the hassle of proving that you’re my soulmate if someone wants to cause trouble. Other than that, you tell me when you’re ready for stuff.”

“Good. Next summer, can I come to Kazakhstan for a while?”

“If you do, you’ll have to deal with my family. There’s no way I bring someone home and not introduce them.”

Yuri shrugged. “Might be worth it.”

Otabek reached out and brushed Yuri’s hair out of his eyes. “What do I do to convince you I’m your soulmate in Barcelona?”

“Do you have music on your phone?”

Otabek smirked. “I DJ for fun. Yes. I have music.”

“Whoa. I was right. You’re cool. That’s awesome!” Yurio took the phone and scrolled through. “Oh, good, you have it. Play this for me.”

 

The Angels were creepy. When one found his hair, Yuri swore he was shaving his head. They were closing in, and he was trapped.

“Yuri! Get on!” A guy on a motorcycle stopped right in front of him. Yuri stared. Angels or not, getting on the back of a motorcycle with a strange guy he knew nothing about seemed like a terrible idea. But then the man took off his sunglasses, and Yuri recognized him. It was the asshole who’d managed to find a polite way to tell JJ to go fuck himself, and then walked away after making eye contact with Yuri without responding to Yuri’s question. The Angels supplied a name – Otabek Altin. “Are you coming or not?”

Otabek was a skater. They were competing against each other. It may have been the stupidest thing he’d ever do, but Yuri took the helmet Otabek offered and held on to the seat as Otabek took off.

Once the Angels were thoroughly lost, Otabek’s driving straightened out and started to become more purposeful. They ended up in a beautiful park, on a hill looking out over Barcelona. “Are you okay, Yuri?”

“I’m good. That was actually pretty cool. Your coach doesn’t throw a fit over you being on a motorcycle right before a competition?”

Otabek shrugged. “He did the first time, but going for a ride keeps me happy and out of trouble. He knows I’m careful. All the same, you’re probably going to be in trouble with your coach.”

“What else is new? Yakov’s always mad at something.”

“I know. I went to his summer camp one time. We were in the same class.”

“Really? I don’t remember that.”

“At the time, I was in my first year in the junior division, but I couldn’t keep up with the Russian junior skaters. They put me in with the novices. I hated it, but I was too stubborn to quit, especially after I noticed you. You were younger, but you could have kept up with the juniors.”

“Well, yeah.”

“I didn’t see arrogance or pride, though. I saw determination. Yuri Plisetsky had the unforgettable eyes of a soldier.”

Yuri blinked. “A soldier? Me?”

“I’d just moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and I decided not to complain until I was good enough. After that, I moved from Russia to the US and then to Canada.”

“Did you skate with JJ?”

“We were rinkmates for about a year. It wasn’t as bad as you might think. He’s a good skater, and I learned a lot from his coaches. Still, I was very grateful when I found a coach who was willing to work with me in Almaty. I only got home after Worlds last year. Now, more than ever, I want to win the championship for Kazakhstan.”

Yuri turned away from the view of Barcelona. “Otabek, why did you talk to me? I’m a rival, aren’t I?”

“You are. I hope we skate against each other for many championships to come. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, and I’ve always thought we were alike.” Otabek reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, offering the earbuds to Yuri.

Yuri took the earbuds, not knowing at all what to expect. Whatever it was, it was not Taylor Swift. He yanked the earbuds out and stared at Otabek. “That’s a prank, right?”

“No.” The bastard was smiling. Why was he smiling?

“Do I really come across as the kind of guy who listens to Taylor Swift?”

“Only when your mother’s trying to get you to go to sleep.”

“Why do you even… wait." Otabek's words cut through the outrage. "What?”

“After your dad disappeared, your mom would sing ‘Picture to Burn’ as a lullaby.”

“How do you know…” Yuri trailed off as the answer hit him. “Seriously?” Otabek nodded. “When’s your birthday?”

“October 31st. You said we’d be a little busy between then and now, but that I should find you at the Finals.”

“Did you set up the Angels?” Yuri really didn't believe that, but he needed time to think.

“No, that was coincidence. I almost asked you to come to dinner with me after that thing with JJ, but…”

“I called you an asshole.” Yuri rarely regretted any of the things he said. This was definitely going on the list.

“I had to get out of there before I started laughing. That was the first thing you said to me in the dream, too.” Otabek finally turned away from the view. "Anyway. Are you going to become friends with me or not?"

"You had the dream. Shouldn't you know?" Yurio held out his hand.

Otabek took it. "It's still polite to ask."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun week! I hope y'all enjoyed it as much as I did.

**Author's Note:**

> All fics are written quickly and may not be edited to usual standards. Hopefully they're still enjoyable.
> 
> I am a total comment addict!


End file.
